Aside from the OL, I don’t see any players that are critical to the Eagles from a long term standpoint.

DeMeco Ryans is a solid ILB, but isn’t a guy that is so good he can’t be replaced. We’ll talk about his future after the season when we know just how well he played for the whole year.

Trent Cole just isn’t a disruptive pass rusher on a consistent basis. I think he’s gone in the offseason. This could easily be Celek’s last year, but he could also stick around because he’s a pretty good blocker.

Keep in mind that guys like Mathis, Barbre, Casey, and Williams might have extra tread on the tire since they haven’t been starters since age 23 or 24. Those guys were late bloomers. That might change their career clock. Might.

It is easy to beg the Eagles to cut some of these guys now to get playing time to younger guys, but there is some value to keeping these players around. Isaac Sopoaga is a marginal player, but what if he is able to help guys like Bennie Logan, Clifton Geathers and Damion Square develop? He can teach them how to train, practice and play.

The same is true for Cole with some of the DE/LBs. Guys like Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Travis Long and Joe Kruger can all learn from Trent. Just watching how hard he works 24/7 is a good lesson for them.

Just putting young players on the field can be dangerous. You don’t want to let them develop or keep bad habits. Coaches need to work with them. Veteran players also need to be there, as coaches and examples. Cole made the transition to OLB quicker than Graham this summer. Trent isn’t substantially more athletic. He embraced it more and sold out to do whatever the coaches wanted.

You can also bet the coaches got on Curry and his 2-gap struggles. They had to point to Cole who is doing some 2-gapping when he moves to DE in certain Nickel sets. Cole isn’t thrilled, but he does his absolute best to execute the defensive scheme as the coaches have it designed. Curry’s first instinct is to do what he did in college…attack. Cole might lack the burst to win off the edge on a regular basis, but he’ll do what the coaches ask of him. And he’ll do it as best he can.

Curry needs to learn from Cole. You must adjust to the scheme. You must do what the coaches want. That’s how you get playing time. That’s also how the scheme works. If you freelance, that can ruin the effort of the other 10 defenders.

When Joe Mays was a UDFA playing 3rd string MLB, he made a ton of tackles in the preseason. The media wrote good things about him. So did I. His teammates weren’t so thrilled. Joe didn’t stay in his gap. He just ran to the ball. That worked in July, but he was awful when he got on the field in real games. Players must function within the scheme.

I’m encouraged by the Eagles young talent. Cox and Thornton could be very good DEs. Logan has the potential to be a solid NT. Mychal Kendricks is still too erratic, but there is no denying his talent. Connor Barwin is 27 and can start for another couple of years. Earl Wolff looks good. Brandon Fletcher is 27 and could be a starting CB for a few years. Brandon Boykin is a good young player.

The offense has Shady, DJax, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz, Bryce Brown, and some OL who might be okay. You can also say Foles and Barkley are at least solid backup QBs if you don’t think they have starting potential.

The Eagles still have a mix of young and old. The older players can be phased out without killing the team. The only area that is vulnerable right now is the OL and the Eagles do have Kecle and Johnson as key pieces to build around.

As younger players like Ertz, Curry and Graham get more comfortable with the scheme and what the coaches expect of them, their playing time will increase. There really is a lot of logic to doing things this way. Just putting guys out there and say “Go play” sounds better in theory than it works. The point is to gain the right kind of experience so the players can develop and become key guys when the team has big time potential.

_

PeterAkkies

Great articles this week, Tommy. And so many of them! I think someone is procrastinating on the DGR 🙂

As for Curry and Graham–Curry has obviously done a good job on passing downs. Do you think he can develop into being good enough on other downs too? If not, is it worth keeping him just for the passing downs? (I hope so because he’s fun to watch.)

I don’t hear much about Brandon Graham anymore. Do you think he’ll be able to start at OLB for us eventually?

GEAGLE

I have a special request….can we not do the offensive DGR this week? I would appreciate not reliving it again….The defensive DGR is sufficient for this week lol

P_P_K

A while ago I met a woman who, when I asked her what she did for work, answered honestly, “i’m a dominitrix.” I was mind-blown. Turns out she has a “dungeon” in her apartment and services rich guys who want to feel demeaned and powerless for a change. The thought of an offensive DGR made me think of her. Her clients would probably pay to read it.

Anders

I like this teams mix of young and old. Only the OL has me worried for the long term if we do not manage to find a guy or two in next years draft (a lot can change with how Kelly, Tobin and Bamiro looks next year)

Insomniac

I want Bamiro to pan out. King Dunlap memories be gone.

Anders

Bamiro is more physical.

Insomniac

No Anders. He’s the next Jonathan Ogden.

GEAGLE

Huge if Bamiro pans out as a starter. I liked his raw ability, how he develops is a crap shoot…
….
I would bet money on Lane becoming a very good player

Mike Flick

Plus you can get away with a lesser player between two very good players. If Kelsey and Johnson turn out to be top guys when we move Lane to LT, you can have just about anyone be a productive LG between them.

You can find decent RTs and guards in the 2-4 rounds. Something to look at this off-season.

Hopefully we can put most of our resources into the other side of the ball.

SteveH

I feel like its easy to dismiss someone like ‘Meco as replaceable… until we have to replace him and get a parade of Joe Mays/Casey Mathews/Jamar Chaney/et al. trying to do the job.

Anders

Well if we actually spend a high draft pick on an ILB like Skov instead of late round picks, it would be easier.

I think what Tommy is saying, is that while Ryans is playing very solid and his the QB of the defense, he is not a Patrick Willis or Sean Lee out there. Ryans should still have 2-3 years left in him and maybe Jake Knott has developed enough by then (or future HOF’er Acho :P)

anon

We draft and let him study behind Meco. tough letting go the best player on the D.

Insomniac

Skov or Smallwood please. Although I think Skov is probably going top 60 picks unlike Smallwood.

Anders

I want Skov at the top of the 3rd round. Let him sit a year behind Ryans and we should have the ILBs for the future

GEAGLE

keep Meco,Knott and Barwin until Kiko and Dion are freed from their shackles and ready to come home!!! 🙂
…
Yes, I think all of Gordon Bombays former Ducks will form a Flying V and migrate to philly as soon as teams are done franchising them. The great Gordon Bombay conspiracy…Kyle long, Kiko, Dion see you boys in a few years hahaha(as I let off an evil sinister, take over the world type of laugh)

Donald Kalinowski

I don’t expect Brandon Graham to be here after this year. Isn’t he a free agent? As for the offensive line, I’m not too concerned. Those guys can be productive till about 33 or 34 years of age.

As for the defense, having decent players like Wolffe, Cox, Kendricks, Boykin, Fletcher, Barwin and Thorton is good but I want a stud. Someone that creates problems, someone that teams gameplan around.

Anders

Graham is signed trough 2015 (tho that year seems to be a bogus year)

anon

think cox and curry can be that.

Anders

Cox is beginning to look like a stud. Also Thornton is a stud in the run game. He is one of the best run stopping 3-4 DEs right now

GEAGLE

Yup…and they aren’t even close to finished products yet…To think we are 7 games into, playing the game with drastically different techniques that they were asked to use last year, it’s friggin extremely encouraging to see them starting to play this level so soon….and then when you think about how young Cox is…man! that kid can be special!!!
..
Yesterday was the first time I heard Chip speak that gave me hope that we are developing Vinny into a 3 down player….if guys don’t suffer injury setback, I Think that by 2015, Cox,Curry,Logan’Thornton have the potential to form a scary group!!!….it would be awesome if Kruger turns out to be a steal…
…Soap has picked up his play this past month. And my instincts say that he will still be on the team in 2014…hoping to see him make an impact in these second half of these season

Mike Flick

I like our D-line, we do need help at OLB and secondary.

brza

Yes, if we can’t get a QB we need a top pass rushing OLB in the draft. Too litte from that position so far.

And a CB to start opposite Fletcher and allow Boykin to stay in the slot would be nice. Cary is ok as a stopgap measure but definitely not a long-term solution.

Donald Kalinowski

I didn’t realize Allen Barbre is 29 years old. I thought he was going to be Todd or Jason’s eventual replacement. Looks like he’s just a career backup.

I think we’re going to be stuck with Cary Williams for a few more years. He’s not a great corner but he’s not bad enough that the front office is going to look for a replacement.

Flyin

Tommy,

That Reid Kool-Aid gif is classic! Big Red in red is okay with me, and could have a lucrative sponsorship coming soon.

Question: 2 out of the 3 OL are young, have you seen enough of Lane Johnson to feel comfortable he could play LT successfully in a year or two?

Anders

Lane Johnson has the potential, it is too early to say if he will be a star LT.

Take Tyronn Smith from Dallas, its first this year he is looking like a potential star LT for them.

Flyin

I wasn’t even thinking about if he could be a star. Just if Lane could make the transition to LT and be solid in a year or two.

Anders

He should. He got the athleticism and played LT his last year in college. He is just playing RT because of Peters.

Flyin

Has Lane played any LT this year? With Chip’s unbalanced line packages?

Anders

He has, but those are mainly run formations.

Mike Flick

You don’t use a #4 pick on a solid guy. You really hope he turns out to be great. So far, I really like what I have seen from him and have no reason to think he won’t continue to improve.

This is only the 3rd year that he has played on the line, which is pretty crazy. He has a lot of room to grow.

Wow. Thanks Anders, that link made my morning. I don’t even like talking about the eagles cap, and thats a testament to what a fantastic job we have done managing it over the past decade. In my eyes, talking about the cap is a waist, and that’s only because we are so consistently awesome at it…I operate under the assumption that we always have room to go get anyone we want, and that’s just because I have been spoiled by the dirty old! miserable miser banner and Howie “SPLASH” Roseman!!!
…
I won’t ever worry about our cap again, until Howie gives us a reason for concern, and right now, there are none looming on our horizon!!!
..
We are in PRIME position to build a team we can be proud of. Hopefully gamble and the new scouts have the winning formula for selecting players.
…
We needed to turnover so much oft he roster last year that we were forced to go Quantity over Quality in last years market because there were just too many holes to fill and we needed to instil the right locker room culture to fix last years pathetic group of sissies….We seemed to have laid a nice foundation all things considered, so I’m expecting the cavalry to come riding into town/re enforcements in this next FA period..QUALITY is on it’s way, and if we can do as well with adding Quality, as we did with Adding Quantity(hitting on Barwin,Cary,Bradley), then it’s not going to take long to have a strong roster in place….A lot of Ifs, a lot of moving parts that need to work out…but so far, our new coaches and front office have definitely done a solid job and instilled hope that they can be the men to get it right, and take us where we need to be

Mike Flick

No doubt they are going to have to rebuild in a year or two.

Giants will have to after this season. Redskins don’t get to draft for a long while, so not sure when they will rebuild.

We should have a jump on everyone else in the division as far as rebuilding goes.

Donald Kalinowski

The cap was at $123M last year. They have to reserve some space for their draft picks. Looks like Avant and Casey are gone next year. If Joe Banner was still here, I’d say Ryans is a lock to be gone. He either takes a paycut or the Eagles are going to draft an ILB in the 2nd round.

Anders

Ryans is not gone, but will 100% take a 2 mill pay cut.

Chung, Avant and Casey are all gone. I suspect Cole will be gone, Celek and Sopoaga will take pay cuts together with Ryans.

GEAGLE

Casey isn’t going anywhere…neither is meco
..
Our CBs are here to stay…Peters will get a 3 year deal!!

Anders

Casey has done nothing on offense. We are not going to pay 4 mill for a ST ace.

Meco will stay, but he is not worth 7 mill per year (that is all pro ILB money).

I agree both CBs will stay. Im not sure how I fell about Peters getting an extension yet. He is getting older and while his run blocking is still top notch, his play have slidede abit. Maybe another year away from his injury will do him good, but I want to see it first.

GEAGLE

As awesome as peters is! and as recovered as we thought he is from his injury. I think it’s a mistake to expect him to show his true worth during the first half of this season…just think back to Meco’s down year, year one removed from his Achilles injury. I’m expecting a much stronger second half of these season for JP, and I think a true indication of what he still has left in the tank will be the quality of his play in December…
….
With Casey. I have watched that kid play plenty of times, that dude can BALL!! I would agree with you if we had been going 3TE all year, and Emil iguana was playing in front of him….but I believe it’s just a case of it not being time yet to install the 3TE portion of the he offense…
…
Its not like Kelly came to philly and immediately installed his entire playbook…There is an art to playbook installation just like play calling…sequence is crucial….there are so many plays and sets that Chip has In his back pocket right at this very moment that we won’t even see until 2015…with the 3TEs I think it’s just a case of, his playbook implementation strategy:
…
I will start by installing X, when teams finally adjust to X, I will counter by going with Y…when opponents finally figure out how to deal with Y, that’s when I will install Z….there is a sequence to the art, and I just think it’s not yet time to counter with 3TE……like I said, if we had been going 3TE all year with Casey still on the bench! I would agree….but I I honestly think that dude has serious skills, and his time in philly will come!!! I don’t know about 2015, but in my mind, there is no question that he is here in 2014….we shall see, guess

Anders

We also have 18 mill we will carry over.

GEAGLE

Not to mention the guys who we won’t re sign and let walk in FA coming off the books

Anders

That is part of the 122 salary we have next year.

Next year will be 126 cap (estimated)+18 mill = 144 mill in cap.

We have 122-10 (low bound) = 112 in salary

for 144-112 = 32 mill in cap space to use and that could go even higher if we cut even more players.

GEAGLE

Depends who the team is…for example, look at this season..if the giants land say the 3rd pick, sure they might take Clowney, but I’m sure they would consider trading back 10 spots for an extra 1st rd pick in 2014, two 2nd round picks and some other compensation….,not every team picking high will need QBs, and there will always be a team like the rams who accept a treasure chest of compensation from allowing a team to trade up and get a star QB,…but for us to be in a position to trade away so much value, we have to have a stacked roster in place that’s only missing a QB

zbone95

We as eagles fans are spoiled to have such great writers writing great analysis. Tommy, The Hack Jimmy, Sheil, Mcmanus, BGN, Reuben, Jeff etc.. Such quality writing Tommy! Keep em coming. Appreciate everything you do. On the qbs, I still have not given up on either foles or barkley. I say part ways with Vick (in offseason and Let Barkley and Foles battle it out. Maybe draft a qb in mid rounds They will be 1 more year comfortable in the scheme. I just don’t think it’s worth trading up for Mariota. Better to build the team around the qb. If we can get maybe a good player I will be fine. Ofcourse I want a franchise qb but like you said in ur earlier articles you can’t assume you will get it. Just keep winning and let it work it self out. In CHippah we trust!!!.

Anders

Mariota is a franchise QB in the mold of RG3.

The reason Redskins isnt better is because the talent level was much worse than ours and they didnt have any cap space to fill some needs.

I would gladly give up the same as the Skins gave up for RG3.

GEAGLE

I worry about the kids personality in this ridiculously impatient city…..I want to have a good team in place before we ever bring in a high rookie draft pick so that he will have every opportunity he needs to have instant success, so that this dumb fanbase/media doesn’t eat him alive…
….
I don’t want to draft a 1st round QB until we have a team in place like the Niners had when they stuck kAp behind center or Seattle had when they went with Wilson… trade up to get Marriotta and he will get killed next year and I worry about how a shy kid could deal with getting killed early in I his career into is insanely tough city…
….
if you don’t invest in any QBs this offseason, you have a strong draft, and a strong FRee agency…next year you let the guys continue to grow in the system, then in 2015 you add some more quality free agents…come the 2015 draft, you could have a stacked roster in place(if you select the right guys) that allows you to mortgage your draft, trading up to go get the FSU QB…and then you can let him play as a rookie sorrounded by a team good enough that can carry him through some of his struggles, feeding this cities need for instant gratification, while our young QB gets the game time that he needs to grow

Anders

Problem with that line of thought is that by the time we have that supporting cast, we will most likely end 8-8 or 9-7 and there is no way any team would ever trade down 10+ spots if they have the chance to draft a guy like Winston.

Also Mariota’s personality is strong enough to resist this city. He started and led a pre season favorite team to a Rose Bowl victory at the age of 19.

Stormbringer

Unfortunately, I think Cleveland had the right idea for this year by getting rid of Richardson for a 1st round pick in the loaded draft. If they get something for Gordon too, they’ll be very well positioned to get Bridgewater or Mariota and not having mortgaged their future (other than a one year hit).

While DC seems (right now) to be OK giving away the farm for RGIII, many times those deals blow up in your face trading that much for one person (ex – rights to Ricky Williams, the Herschel Walker trade, rights to Vick). If RGIII gets injured again (loses his speed) then DC is in a world of hurt.

I’d rather us trade a bunch of people now to accumulate draft picks to use to trade up. The only problem is, the guys we have won’t bring enough in return combined (probably Celek, Graham, etc.) to enable use to move from mid-1st to high enough to get Mariota (or Winston).

Anders

Cleveland isnt getting Bridgewater and Mariota is a terrible fit for that offense.

Any trade, any draft pick, will look bad if the guy gets injured, just look at Graham and Allen how there injuries affected how their careers have gone so far.

brza

I love Winston but he’s not draft eligible until 2015. Or do you mean trading guys/picks this year for 2015 picks?

brza

Yes, this is exactly what I’m thinking. We have a few places where we could definitely use improvement (ie OLB, CB) but overall we are much better off than the Redskins were. We also have a much better salary cap siuation. We can afford to give up a large haul in picks if we get our franchise QB.

Otherwise, continual improvement of the team in other areas will move us further away from a top pick making a trade up less likey/more costly. If the Eagles don’t make the playoffs this year and Bridgewater, Mariotta or possibly Boyd are available in a draft day trade then thats the best possible situation for the franchise.

But I doubt we’ll have a chance to move up high enough to get one of those guys. Bridgewater will be taken first. I think Mariotta will be drafted top three regardless of scheme fit (if he commits to the draft this year). Boyd could fall though but if he does fall maybe he’s not really our guy either.
I think Hundley stays another year to improve his stock. I find Keith Price could be very interesting and is someone that is being overlooked in the top 5 QB discussion. He’s got his Sophomore year form back and has all the physical tools. He could also be available in the late first/early 2nd round.

Insomniac

I believe in Chip’s safety evaluations.I think he recruited Byrd and Ward? BRING IN THE SAFETY THAT WE NEED…but probably don’t deserve. God I’m not used to talking offseason moves when the season is barely even half done.

Anders

He did recruit any of them.

He did recruit Ifo, Dion Jordan, DAT, Barner, Kyle Long, Mariota.

eagleyankfan

Season was over in the spring…

eagleyankfan

Like reading the posts about college qb’s. I watch very little. Wish I had time to watch more.
I guess we’ll get the Giants vs. Eagles and Eagles vs. Dallas DGR at the same time :).

A_T_G

I would be okay with pretending we had a bye last week.

GEAGLE

Sorry, nothing can convince me that it’s good to jerk Graham around the way we have been…
….
Curry is even being handled better than Graham

bentheimmigrant

What’s this everyone is saying about Tommy not posting a DGR??? It’s right there! Here it is if you still can’t see it…

GEAGLE

I LOLed!!!

Mac

If Tommy feels at all the way I felt during the game, he probably falls asleep every time he attempts to watch it. I recall seeing the DeMeco interception and saying inside my head, if he doesn’t take it to the house we’re only gonna get 3 points, and then I’m gonna be 🙁

It was such a yawnfest. Good solid defense, but nothing to get super excited about like a Romo slaughterfest of sacks or ints. Oh well.

And all that PBR probably doesn’t help with the whole staying awake thing either.

Tommy,
I know that our scheme and some past injuries might make this a little more difficult, but is it so irregular for good OL to stick around until they are 34 or 35? I’m not saying that we can ignore the OL, just asking if certain positions have the average age skew a little higher? It seems like 31 year old RBs are nearly extinct.

GEAGLE

Oline is def a position that can play later in age..How old were Runyan and Tre when they retired?

austinfan

Tra was 34 and Runyan 35, in 2008 which was their last decent seasons. Depends on the system and the player, zone blocking requires more athleticism, but older players can compensate by losing weight and using technique to compensate.

Peters bears watching, he’s definitely a step slower at LT, but he’s still working back from his injury. If he doesn’t improve, he’s still a fine candidate to replace Herremans at RG, but do you renegotiate 2014 as part of an extension in that role, and would Peters accept it?

Weapon Y

Gcobb thinks that it’s possible Foles got concussed on the 4th play of the Cowboys game, when Carter hit him and slammed his head into the ground. Do you think that’s a possibility, Tommy? If that was the case, that sure opens up a lot of questions about how Chip handles injured players. I really couldn’t blame Foles for trying to play through the injury. We loved McNabb for playing through the broken leg. Vick has played through a mind-boggling number of injuries. Alex Smith lost his job with the 49ers because he got concussed and allowed Kaepernick to show how good he was. The message is clear, right or wrong: We love players who play through the pain. Players who don’t put their jobs at risk. It’s possible theres a whole side to what happened on Sunday which has been kept totally secret from the public. I, for one, would like to see if there’s any truth to this idea.

GEAGLE

Very interesting,,,thanks for sharing,,,can’t wait to get home and watch that hit later

OregonDucker

GEagle – Off topic but today’s Eugene paper, “The Register-Guard”, states that Colt Lyerla has been arrested for cocaine possession and use. “He was allegedly seen snorting cocaine while parked in a car” near the UofO campus. Bummer!

GEAGLE

Geez man..,keep it up we will be signing him as an Undrafted free agent. What a fall from grace

Anders

He might have had a little concussion there, but there was zero indications. He got up right away and he didnt take a direct hit, but most concussions actually comes from several smaller hits trough out a game. Thats why some guys first find out the day after.

Stormbringer

Interesting. I always thought most concussions came from big hits. I wonder if this is the case how many have a concussion and don’t really know it.

Flyin

I believe it is possible, however, I have no clue. This article at PFT with quotes from Richard Sherman will give you a little insight to players staying on the field with a concussion.

Sort of off topic here but does anyone know what is up with Wolff? Didn’t he leave the game after that big hit on Dez with a ‘head injury’ and not come back? Is he OK or was he concussed?

anon

he came back. best hit of the game.

Stormbringer

Thanks!

Whenever I hear the team say ‘head injury’ it makes me nervous as it reminds me of Lindros and Pronger and the end of their careers (as that was how both were originally described).

GEAGLE

Yeah Wolff played the entire game minus a hand full of plays..you sure it was his head? I was under the impression that it was a shoulder stinger,,,no?

GEAGLE

Our defenders are starting to lay down the boom for the first time in god knows how long…Wolff BLASTED Dez..Barwin CRUSHED Romo, Curry and Graham got nice hits on him…Past few weeks Meco has turned up the notch with punishing Hits..Kendricks still has tackling issues cause he wants to blow people up so bad but it was nice seeing him hit RG3 with a Rock Bottom slamming him into the turf early in the season…already they have more hits that stick out in my head then the past few years

Philip Soloninka

I seriously agree with just about every single point you make in every single post.

GEAGLE

What’s funny is that going into this Giants game I am much more confident with our defense then I am with our offense. Expecting our defense to take that next step, build off the past 3 weeks and shutdown the Giants and carry us in this game…as for the Offense, I don’t know what to think. My only expectation is that after last weeks embarrassing performance, shady won’t be stopped regardless of how they play him…
…
our front 7 is playing nastier every week and as the secondary Gels and Wolff and Nate gain confidence we are starting to see tighter coverage. Giants have good WR, but they don’t have these physically imposing WR like Dez or Vjax that are going to get theirs no matter what…Im expecting to have a really nice defensive showing the more I think about it……
..
I never thought I would be expecting our defense to carry a Chip Kelly offense in week 8. I hope whoever plays under center isn’t going to hold us back too much…if Vick is going to have a bad game, he needs to have a bad game like FOles in that it’s a cautiously bad game. FOles was putrid, but he still took care of the ball, and didn’t let the game completely slip away…even if Vick isn’t healthy or on point, he can’t let this game slip away with the killer turnovers we are accustomed to seeing when he is having a bad day….our defense will force ATleast two turnovers this week…if we don’t turn the ball over we can win an ugly division battle

Insomniac

For those that care, the NFL draft game updated to the next draft. first-pick.com. Have fun.

CampDracula

Off topic:

I was really excited to see the double stack play in the preseason. It seemed so simple, yet so difficult to defend. What happened to that?

eagleyankfan

I think a team pressed the wr’s/te’s in that play in game 2 to shut it down.

Mitchell

The case for Nate Allen:
Nate already has 47 combined tackles this year. Last year he had a total of 73. He has 1 sack already this year as compared to 2, the past 3 years. Nate has 4 defended passes, as compared to 4 all of last year. He doesn’t have any int’s yet, however we may see one in Sunday’s game.
Nate is only 6 tackles away from tying the leader in that category among safeties (Major Wright) at 53, per nfl.com. His 4 PD are also average for his position.
Compare Nate to Earl Thomas who has 49 tackles, no sacks, 9 PDs, 4 ints, and 2 FFs. I understand Nate’s numbers are not all that close to Thomas, but when take into the context Thomas is one of the elite safeties, Nate’s number really aren’t that bad for at least an average player. Plus the defense has had to develop cohesion which may have affected his output. The question is, can Nate continue to get better this year? If so, does that make the need for safety a bit less urgent?
My dream would be for him to get to at least 100 tackles, 2-3 sacks, and 3-4 ints. A man can dream can’t he?

Mac

It would be a beautiful thing if Nate could become a solid S and develop alongside Wolff. I’m not holding my breath, but if it happens that would be great for this defense.

GermanEagle

Where is the statistic of taking bad angles?!

Mitchell

I left that stat out lol

eagleyankfan

as well as some other stats…

Mitchell

Like what? I was just pointing out the fact he isn’t doing a horrible job statistisctically.

GermanEagle

No, he certainly isn’t. However he’s not a difference nor playmaker either. Something I would expect from a high second round draft pick. If the Eagles can update his spot next year, along with Wolff’s progressing, we will be better off in the secondary.

ceteris_paribus1776

Tackles are an awful stat to evaluate a defensive players performance. For example how many pays have the eagles defended this year due to their up-tempo offense? An additional 10 to 20 plays per game over the course of the season is going to inflate tackle stats. How many plays has Nate missed? That’s something that doesn’t show up in the stats but is far more telling

GermanEagle

True. Especially for Linebackers the tackles stats are distorted as they don’t tell you if those tackles came 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage…

eagleyankfan

Like — how many chances there were for him to get his numbers. Another words – if Nate was thrown at 150 times and he got those numbers but the other safeties he’s being compared to did their numbers in 100 passes thrown at. I agree with 1776 below. Tackles are an awful stat. (I won’t even bring up other stats like FF or FR). You can spray cow dung with FaBreeze. It’ll smell better…but….

Mitchell

So players who have a high number of tackles aren’t good? According to that logic, Keuchly wasn’t good last year based on tackles alone…. How many times has Nate been thrown at? It may very well be comparable to other safeties. I don’t know where to find that stat. I was simply pointing out he is playing better. I never said he was an all-pro.

Anders

OMG SOMEBODY COMPLEMENTED ALLEN, BETTER TRASH HIM!!!!

GermanEagle

“complemented”?

eagleyankfan

and in capital letters. Too much caffeine I’m thinking…

GermanEagle

Tommy,
what do you think are the chances of the Eagles trading Nick Foles to the Rams for a high draft pick before the trade dealine (10/29)?
Since Sam Bradford is out for season (besides the fact the Rams won’t likely re-sign him next off-season when he becomes a Free Agent) St. Louis seems to be desperate for a QB, though calling out for Brett Favre the term “desperate” might be an understatement.
I think we all know that Foles is not the QB Chipper wants to use in his offense system going forward, so trading him would makes sense, especially if it increases our chances of landing an athletic franchise QB in next year’s draft. And in that draft of 2014 the Rams hold two top 10 picks, which makes them more likely to part with a second rounder…

Insomniac

The Brett Farve thing was a joke if you actually didn’t know. Why would the Rams trade for a QB when they can just outright draft someone who has a much higher ceiling than Foles? Not to mention he might not even be worth a fourth round pick.

GermanEagle

A fourth round pick is a bit harsh, however I agree that the Rams could simply draft their franchise QB of the future with those high picks in next year’s draft.
Where was the Favre call a joke though? According to him many teams have approached him…

anon

Before the Cowboys game there might have been a chance. I don’t think so after the cowboys game….but maybe J. Freeman found a home.

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Jimmy Bama isn’t RB Ryan Mathews biggest fan, as you can see. After fumbling in an inexcusable situation for the second time in three weeks, I'm told the Eagles have fired Ryan Mathews into the sun. pic.twitter.com/3apbNCla0u — Jimmy Kempski … Continue reading →

Practice Squad Update: LB Don Cherry has been added to the practice squad and G Darrell Greene has been released from the practice squad. — Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 18, 2016 The Eagles are manipulating the PS rules to keep … Continue reading →